Hillary to Concede Tonight; Or, Thank God It's Over

Over the past year and a half or so of Hillary Clinton's hugely historic run for the presidency, we've been thoroughly impressed with the legacy she's left as the first of her kind. She's undoubtedly owned every single debate—except for that one where Edwards came alive for a minute and sounded like a real person who had more going for him than being the son of a mill worker. She made sure health care mattered to whomever takes over the country. She got the country talking about feminism again, got men and women alike uncomfortable about whether or not it's okay to treat women a certain way. She presented an impressive economic plan, overcame pretty much every controversy surrounding her, and ignored the ones that were ridiculous or irrelevant (i.e. claims that Clinton's a racist, talk about her cleavage).

Probably most impressive to our little Left Coast community, she popularized the term "Green Collar Jobs," bringing the need for an environmentally friendly economic solution all the way into our American lexicon. When's the last time a Democrat coined a political term that stuck? The last few we remember—homeland security, war on terror, compassionate conservatism—have all come out of the evangelical right. Marrying the environment with the economy in a practical way is the sort of thing that got her the Boeing Machinists' endorsement, as well as that of Maria Cantwell, Jay Inslee, and, yes, Ron Sims.

All that said, this Seattlest is glad the freaking race is finally over. God, it's been long and gratuitous and painful and annoying...and it just kind of got old. What started out as a thrilling ride through one of the most historic moments of our generation, a fresh break from the average old white guy races, eventually became a complicated mess of bullshit old school politics.

But, in the process, that other candidate—the one everyone thought was God, Jesus, and the Virgin Mary combined, the second coming of JFK, the brilliant master of all things good and holy in the world—showed that he, too, can roll in the dirt with the big boys girls. He, too, is an honest-to-God politician who's interested in doing whatever it takes to win. He doesn't have to admit it. He can go on spouting all that idealist crap about change and hope and blah blah blah. But we Clinton devotees can finally see that he just might have what it takes to be a real live political leader, not just a naive, starry-eyed professor. We just hope the students, activists, and others who have supported his historic candidacy turn out in November to seal the deal.

(For the record, we contacted the local Hillary Clinton Campaign to see if there will be any events or official statements about the concession. Their response: "Not till we hear officially." Fair enough.)

**UPDATE: Hillary Clinton has posted a note on her MySpace Blog stating:

The AP story is incorrect. Senator Clinton will not concede the nomination this evening.

NBC is now reporting that Clinton will not concede tonight. She will simply make some kind of statement along the lines of it being mathematically impossible to win. In true Clintonian fashion, she'll wait until she's figured out the perfect, right way to excuse herself before just jumping out of the ring. She is, however, open to being VP. Here's her speech.

Obama, meanwhile, will make his victory speech (full text here) in true progressive fashion, in Minneapolis St. Paul, at the location of the 2008 Republican National Convention. That's right. It's now totally on.

photo by Abu, from the Seattlest Flickr pool. Thanks!